Workshop: Goals and Standards in Teaching Russian, University of Kansas, Deadline: March 31

The Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at the University
of Kansas, the Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia at the
University of Wisconsin -Madison and the Center for Russian, East European
and Eurasian Studies at the University of Texas-Austin announce a three-day
workshop for Russian language teachers and program coordinators, to be held
at the University of Kansas from June 6 through June 9, 2010. Participants
will be provided housing during the workshop and receive a $400 honorarium
for travel expenses.

Participants in this hands-on workshop will build curricular units at the
intermediate through advanced levels of Russian language instruction. They
will:
* examine frameworks for setting goals and standards for instructional units
(such as the ACTFL Standards for Foreign Language Instruction);
* review examples of content-oriented materials, noting how larger goals can
be organized into discrete but connected tasks
* consider how task design targets reading, listening, writing, cultural
knowledge and development of lexico-grammatical accuracy;
* evaluate assessments and rubrics for measuring student learning;
* design/redesign a content-based set of materials.

Participants will share their content-based materials with colleagues at the
workshop and with the profession at large over the KU CREES webpage.

Main Presenters:
William Comer (University of Kansas) and Lynne deBenedette (Brown
University) will be the main presenters at the workshop. Both presenters
have extensive experience in materials development for Russian, building
curricula across levels of instruction, and teacher training.

Support for Participants:
The workshop is open to 12 participants. The three sponsoring Title VI
Centers will provide accommodations in Lawrence for three nights (June 6, 7,
8 ) and an honorarium of $400 from which participants can cover their travel
and other expenses.

To apply for participation in the workshop, complete the application
questionnaire available at:http://www.crees.ku.edu/news_events/RussianWorkshop/index.shtml.
Send the completed questionnaire by email to: wjcomer@ku.edu by March 31,
2010. High school teachers, junior college faculty, graduate students who
have had at least two years of teaching experience are all encouraged to
apply. Priority will be given to program coordinators or faculty who have
responsibility for curriculum and/or the training of teaching assistants.
Organizers will confirm participants¹ status by April 9. Any questions
about the workshop should be directed to wjcomer@ku.edu.